Beowulf - Delphi Poets Series

by Beowulf

  Thy warder of folk. Learn us well with thy leading,

  For we have to the mighty an errand full mickle, 270

  To the lord of the Dane-folk: naught dark shall it be,

  That ween I full surely. If it be so thou wottest,

  As soothly for our parts we now have heard say,

  That one midst of the Scyldings, who of scathers I wot not,

  A deed-hater secret, in the dark of the night-tide

  Setteth forth through the terror the malice untold of,

  The shame-wrong and slaughter. I therefore to Hrothgar

  Through my mind fashion’d roomsome the rede may now learn him,

  How he, old-wise and good, may get the fiend under,

  If once more from him awayward may turn 280

  The business of bales, and the boot come again,

  And the weltering of care wax cooler once more;

  Or for ever sithence time of stress he shall thole,

  The need and the wronging, the while yet there abideth

  On the high stead aloft the best of all houses.

  Then spake out the warden on steed there a-sitting,

  The servant all un-fear’d: It shall be of either

  That the shield-warrior sharp the sundering wotteth,

  Of words and of works, if he think thereof well.

  I hear it thus said that this host here is friendly 290

  To the lord of the Scyldings; forth fare ye then, bearing

  Your weed and your weapons, of the way will I wise you;

  Likewise mine own kinsmen I will now be bidding

  Against every foeman your floater before us,

  Your craft but new-tarred, the keel on the sand,

  With honour to hold, until back shall be bearing

  Over the lake-streams this one, the lief man,

  The wood of the wounden-neck back unto Wedermark.

  Unto such shall be granted amongst the good-doers

  To win the way out all whole from the war-race. 300

  Then boun they to faring, the bark biding quiet;

  Hung upon hawser the wide-fathom’d ship

  Fast at her anchor. Forth shone the boar-shapes

  Over the check-guards golden adorned,

  Fair-shifting, fire-hard; ward held the farrow.

  Snorted the war-moody, hasten’d the warriors

  And trod down together until the hall timbered,

  Stately and gold-bestain’d, gat they to look on,

  That was the all-mightiest unto earth’s dwellers

  Of halls ‘neath the heavens, wherein bode the mighty; 310

  Glisten’d the gleam thereof o’er lands a many.

  Unto them then the war-deer the court of the proud one

  Full clearly betaught it, that they therewithal

  Might wend their ways thither. Then he of the warriors

  Round wended his steed, and spake a word backward:

  Time now for my faring; but the Father All-wielder

  May He with all helping henceforward so hold you

  All whole in your wayfaring. Will I to sea-side

  Against the wroth folk to hold warding ever.

  VI. BEOWULF AND THE GEATS COME INTO HART.

  Stone-diverse the street was, straight uplong the path led 320

  The warriors together. There shone the war-byrny

  The hard and the hand-lock’d; the ring-iron sheer

  Sang over their war-gear, when they to the hall first

  In their gear the all-fearful had gat them to ganging.

  So then the sea-weary their wide shields set down,

  Their war-rounds the mighty, against the hall’s wall.

  Then bow’d they to bench, and rang there the byrnies,

  The war-weed of warriors, and up-stood the spears,

  The war-gear of the sea-folk all gather’d together.

  The ash-holt grey-headed; that host of the iron 330

  With weapons was worshipful. There then a proud chief

  Of those lads of the battle speer’d after their line:

  Whence ferry ye then the shields golden-faced,

  The grey sarks therewith, and the helms all bevisor’d,

  And a heap of the war-shafts? Now am I of Hrothgar

  The man and the messenger: ne’er saw I of aliens

  So many of men more might-like of mood.

  I ween that for pride-sake, no wise for wrack-wending

  But for high might of mind, ye to Hrothgar have sought.

  Unto him then the heart-hardy answer’d and spake, 340

  The proud earl of the Weders the word gave aback,

  The hardy neath helm: Now of Hygelac are we

  The board-fellows; Beowulf e’en is my name,

  And word will I say unto Healfdene’s son,

  To the mighty, the folk-lord, what errand is mine,

  Yea unto thy lord, if to us he will grant it

  That him, who so good is, anon we may greet.

  Spake Wulfgar the word, a lord of the Wendels,

  And the mood of his heart of a many was kenned,

  His war and his wisdom: I therefore the Danes’ friend 350

  Will lightly be asking, of the lord of the Scyldings,

  The dealer of rings, since the boon thou art bidding,

  The mighty folk-lord, concerning thine errand,

  And swiftly the answer shall do thee to wit

  Which the good one to give thee aback may deem meetest.

  Then turn’d he in haste to where Hrothgar was sitting

  Right old and all hoary mid the host of his earl-folk:

  Went the valour-stark; stood he the shoulders before

  Of the Dane-lord: well could he the doughty ones’ custom.

  So Wulfgar spake forth to his lord the well-friendly: 360

  Hither are ferry’d now, come from afar off

  O’er the field of the ocean, a folk of the Geats;

  These men of the battle e’en Beowulf name they

  Their elder and chiefest, and to thee are they bidding

  That they, O dear lord, with thee may be dealing

  In word against word. Now win them no naysay

  Of thy speech again-given, O Hrothgar the glad-man:

  For they in their war-gear, methinketh, be worthy

  Of good deeming of earls; and forsooth naught but doughty

  Is he who hath led o’er the warriors hither. 370

  VII. BEOWULF SPEAKETH WITH HROTHGAR, AND TELLETH HOW HE WILL MEET GRENDEL.

  Word then gave out Hrothgar the helm of the Scyldings:

  I knew him in sooth when he was but a youngling,

  And his father, the old man, was Ecgtheow hight;

  Unto whom at his home gave Hrethel the Geat-lord

  His one only daughter; and now hath his offspring

  All hardy come hither a lief lord to seek him.

  For that word they spake then, the sea-faring men,

  E’en they who the gift-seat for the Geat-folk had ferry’d,

  Brought thither for thanks, that of thirty of menfolk

  The craft of might hath he within his own handgrip, 380

  That war-strong of men. Now him holy God

  For kind help hath sent off here even to us,

  We men of the West Danes, as now I have weening,

  ‘Gainst the terror of Grendel. So I to that good one

  For his mighty mood-daring shall the dear treasure bid.

  Haste now and be speedy, and bid them in straightway,

  The kindred-band gather’d together, to see us,

  And in words say thou eke that they be well comen

  To the folk of the Danes. To the door of the hall then

  Went Wulfgar, and words withinward he flitted: 390

  He bade me to say you, my lord of fair battle,

  The elder of East-Danes, that he your blood knoweth,

  And that unto him are ye the sea-surges over,

  Ye lads hardy-hearted, well come to land hither
;

  And now may ye wend you all in war-raiment

  Under the battle-mask Hrothgar to see.

  But here let your battle-boards yet be abiding,

  With your war-weed and slaughter-shafts, issue of words.

  Then rose up the rich one, much warriors around him,

  Chosen heap of the thanes, but there some abided 400

  The war-gear to hold, as the wight one was bidding.

  Swift went they together, as the warrior there led them,

  Under Hart’s roof: went the stout-hearted,

  The hardy neath helm, till he stood by the high-seat.

  Then Beowulf spake out, on him shone the byrny,

  His war-net besown by the wiles of the smith:

  Hail to thee, Hrothgar! I am of Hygelac

  Kinsman and folk-thane; fair deeds have I many

  Begun in my youth-tide, and this matter of Grendel

  On the turf of mine own land undarkly I knew. 410

  ’Tis the seafarers’ say that standeth this hall,

  The best house forsooth, for each one of warriors

  All idle and useless, after the even-light

  Under the heaven-loft hidden becometh.

  Then lightly they learn’d me, my people, this lore,

  E’en the best that there be of the wise of the churls,

  O Hrothgar the kingly, that thee should I seek to,

  Whereas of the might of my craft were they cunning;

  For they saw me when came I from out of my wargear,

  Blood-stain’d from the foe whenas five had I bounden, 420

  Quell’d the kin of the eotens, and in the wave slain

  The nicors by night-tide: strait need then I bore,

  Wreak’d the grief of the Weders, the woe they had gotten;

  I ground down the wrathful; and now against Grendel

  I here with the dread one alone shall be dooming,

  In Thing with the giant. I now then with thee,

  O lord of the bright Danes, will fall to my bidding,

  O berg of Scyldings, and bid thee one boon,

  Which, O refuge of warriors, gainsay me not now,

  Since, O free friend of folks, from afar have I come, 430

  That I alone, I and my band of the earls,

  This hard heap of men, may cleanse Hart of ill.

  This eke have I heard say, that he, the fell monster,

  In his wan-heed recks nothing of weapons of war;

  Forgo I this therefore (if so be that Hygelac

  Will still be my man-lord, and he blithe of mood)

  To bear the sword with me, or bear the broad shield,

  Yellow-round to the battle; but with naught save the hand-grip

  With the foe shall I grapple, and grope for the life

  The loathly with loathly. There he shall believe 440

  In the doom of the Lord whom death then shall take.

  Now ween I that he, if he may wield matters,

  E’en there in the war-hall the folk of the Geats

  Shall eat up unafear’d, as oft he hath done it

  With the might of the Hrethmen: no need for thee therefore

  My head to be hiding; for me will he have

  With gore all bestain’d, if the death of men get me;

  He will bear off my bloody corpse minded to taste it;

  Unmournfully then will the Lone-goer eat it,

  Will blood-mark the moor-ways; for the meat of my body 450

  Naught needest thou henceforth in any wise grieve thee.

  But send thou to Hygelac, if the war have me,

  The best of all war-shrouds that now my breast wardeth,

  The goodliest of railings, the good gift of Hrethel,

  The hand-work of Weland. Weird wends as she willeth.

  VIII. HROTHGAR ANSWERETH BEOWULF AND BIDDETH HIM SIT TO THE FEAST.

  Spake out then Hrothgar the helm of the Scyldings:

  Thou Beowulf, friend mine, for battle that wardeth

  And for help that is kindly hast sought to us hither.

  Fought down thy father the most of all feuds;

  To Heatholaf was he forsooth for a hand-bane 460

  Amidst of the Wylfings. The folk of the Weders

  Him for the war-dread that while might not hold.

  So thence did he seek to the folk of the South-Danes

  O’er the waves’ wallow, to the Scyldings be-worshipped.

  Then first was I wielding the weal of the Dane-folk,

  That time was I holding in youth-tide the gem-rich

  Hoard-burg of the heroes. Dead then was Heorogar,

  Mine elder of brethren; unliving was he,

  The Healfdene’s bairn that was better than I.

  That feud then thereafter with fee did I settle; 470

  I sent to the Wylfing folk over the waters’ back

  Treasures of old time; he swore the oaths to me.

  Sorrow is in my mind that needs must I say it

  To any of grooms, of Grendel what hath he

  Of shaming in Hart, and he with his hate-wiles

  Of sudden harms framed; the host of my hall-floor,

  The war-heap, is waned; Weird swept them away

  Into horror of Grendel. It is God now that may lightly

  The scather the doltish from deeds thrust aside.

  Full oft have they boasted with beer well bedrunken, 480

  My men of the battle all over the ale-stoup,

  That they in the beer-hall would yet be abiding

  The onset of Grendel with the terror of edges.

  But then was this mead-hall in the tide of the morning,

  This warrior-hall, gore-stain’d when day at last gleamed,

  All the boards of the benches with blood besteam’d over,

  The hall laid with sword-gore: of lieges less had I

  Of dear and of doughty, for them death had gotten.

  Now sit thou to feast and unbind thy mood freely,

  Thy war-fame unto men as the mind of thee whetteth. 490

  Then was for the Geat-folk and them all together

  There in the beer-hall a bench bedight roomsome,

  There the stout-hearted hied them to sitting

  Proud in their might: a thane minded the service,

  Who in hand upbare an ale-stoup adorned,

  Skinked the sheer mead; whiles sang the shaper

  Clear out in Hart-hall; joy was of warriors,

  Men doughty no little of Danes and of Weders.

  IX. UNFERTH CONTENDETH IN WORDS WITH BEOWULF.

  Spake out then Unferth that bairn was of Ecglaf,

  And he sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings, 500

  He unbound the battle-rune; was Beowulf’s faring,

  Of him the proud mere-farer, mickle unliking,

  Whereas he begrudg’d it of any man other

  That he glories more mighty the middle-garth over

  Should hold under heaven than he himself held:

  Art thou that Beowulf who won strife with Breca

  On the wide sea contending in swimming,

  When ye two for pride’s sake search’d out the floods

  And for a dolt’s cry into deep water

  Thrust both your life-days? No man the twain of you, 510

  Lief or loth were he, might lay wyte to stay you

  Your sorrowful journey, when on the sea row’d ye;

  Then when the ocean-stream ye with your arms deck’d,

  Meted the mere-streets, there your hands brandish’d!

  O’er the Spearman ye glided; the sea with waves welter’d,

  The surge of the winter. Ye twain in the waves’ might

  For a seven nights swink’d. He outdid thee in swimming,

  And the more was his might; but him in the morn-tide

  To the Heatho-Remes’ land the holm bore ashore.

  And thence away sought he to his dear land and lovely, 520

  The lief to his people sought the land of the Brondings,


  The fair burg peace-warding, where he the folk owned,

  The burg and the gold rings. What to theeward he boasted,

  Beanstan’s son, for thee soothly he brought it about.

  Now ween I for thee things worser than erewhile,

  Though thou in the war-race wert everywhere doughty,

  In the grim war, if thou herein Grendel darest

  Night-long for a while of time nigh to abide.

  Then Beowulf spake out, the Ecgtheow’s bairn:

  What! thou no few of things, O Unferth my friend, 530

  And thou drunken with beer, about Breca hast spoken,

  Saidest out of his journey; so the sooth now I tell:

  To wit, that the more might ever I owned,

  Hard wearing on wave more than any man else.

  We twain then, we quoth it, while yet we were younglings,

  And we boasted between us, the twain of us being yet

  In our youth-days, that we out onto the Spearman

  Our lives would adventure; and e’en so we wrought It.

  We had a sword naked, when on the sound row’d we,

  Hard in hand, as we twain against the whale-fishes 540

  Had mind to be warding us. No whit from me

  In the waves of the sea-flood afar might he float

  The hastier in holm, nor would I from him hie me.

  Then we two together, we were in the sea

  For a five nights, till us twain the flood drave asunder,

  The weltering of waves. Then the coldest of weathers

  In the dusking of night and the wind from the northward

  Battle-grim turn’d against us, rough grown were the billows.

  Of the mere-fishes then was the mood all up-stirred;

  There me ‘gainst the loathly the body-sark mine, 550

  The hard and the hand-lock’d, was framing me help,

  My battle-rail braided, it lay on my breast

  Gear’d graithly with gold. But me to the ground tugg’d

  A foe and fiend-scather; fast he had me In hold

  That grim one in grip: yet to me was it given.

  That the wretch there, the monster, with point might I reach,

  With my bill of the battle, and the war-race off bore

  The mighty mere-beast through the hand that was mine.

  X. BEOWULF MAKES AN END OF HIS TALE OF THE SWIMMING. WEALHTHEOW, HROTHGAR’S QUEEN, GREETS HIM; AND HROTHGAR DELIVERS TO HIM THE WARDING OF THE HALL.

  Thus oft and oft over the doers of evil

  They threatened me hard; thane-service I did them 560

  With the dear sword of mine, as forsooth it was meet,

  That nowise of their fill did they win them the joy